Friday, May 23, 2008

The whole world of music was happy with the news: Venezuela's Children and Youth Orchestras were awarded in Oviedo the Prince of Asturias Prize of Arts, 2008 Edition.

The jury awarded the orchestras with the prize "for having put together in one single project the highest artistic quality and a deep ethical conviction intended to improve the social reality."

It could not be otherwise. The Venezuelan System of Children and Youth Orchestras (Fesnojiv) was created 30 years ago by composer and economist José Antonio Abreu. This project has managed to change the life of more than 400,000 people. Most of them are children and adolescents from two to 25 years old who have joined a network of 120 orchestras.

This number does not include additional thousand youngsters signed up in workshops where they learn to manufacture and repair instruments. There are also dedicated programs for disabled kids.

"The system created by Master Abreu has trained the highest level conductors and performers based on a bold confidence in the educational value of music on behalf of the human dignity," said in Oviedo José Lladó Fernández-Urrutia, the jury president.